Empire State Building 1930

This is Ernest Fiene's lithograph of the Empire State Building. He’s used these beautiful charcoal shades, dark blacks fading into softer greys, to create an iconic image of the New York skyline. I’m trying to imagine Fiene at work, carefully building up the image in layers, a process of addition and subtraction. The whole composition feels like a balancing act, doesn’t it? There’s the solid, almost brutalist-looking framework in the foreground, juxtaposed against the slender elegance of the Empire State Building itself. It’s as though Fiene is playing with perspective, forcing us to consider the relationship between near and far, shadow and light. It’s like he is asking: What does it mean to capture a symbol of modernity using such an old-school technique? Fiene’s Empire State Building is a testament to the enduring power of printmaking as a medium. It makes me think about the way we continue to find new meaning in the familiar through art.